Co owners, Anthony Fry, left, and Drew Pickering, right, and chef Dino DiGirolamo sit in the newly designed dinning room and bar of Molto Bene in Ansonia on Monday, January 7, 2012.

Co owners, Anthony Fry, left, and Drew Pickering, right, and chef Dino DiGirolamo sit in the newly designed dinning room and bar of Molto Bene in Ansonia on Monday, January 7, 2012.

Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

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The newly designed dinning room and bar of Molto Bene in Ansonia on Monday, January 7, 2012.

The newly designed dinning room and bar of Molto Bene in Ansonia on Monday, January 7, 2012.

Photo: BK Angeletti, B.K. Angeletti

Image 3 of 3

Molto Bene rises from Valley landmark

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ANSONIA -- Business partners Drew Pickering Jr. and Anthony Fry took over the former John J. Sullivan's in early September, transforming the 13,000 square foot restaurant and banquet facility to Molto Bene.

Offering dishes like bone-in Chicken Scarpiello, Scrod Pomodoro and other traditional Italian fare, Molto Bene, with no connection to Molto in Fairfield, has a full restaurant and lounge, banquet facility and an outdoor patio that can fit up to 300 people alone.

Pickering said upon taking over John J. Sullivan's, they quickly replaced the low Hitchcock furniture with sleek modern high-top tables, gave the brick walls a coat of paint and put up six flat screen TVs in the lounge to attract younger faces.

"It was `restaurant impossible' pretty much," he said. "We did it in three days. We just wanted to get open." Inside, photos of Valley memorabilia collections produced by the Valley Community Foundation hang in the lounge and restaurant.

"This is a Valley landmark, we want to keep it a Valley landmark," Pickering said of Molto Bene, formerly Rapp's Paradise Inn for two decades before John J. Sullivan's bought the business.

With live music on Friday and Saturday nights, a Thursday night fish fry, Sunday brunch and plans for lobster bakes on Wednesday nights in the summer, Pickering said they are covering all of their bases.

Fry, owner of the former Molto Bene pizza joint in Derby, said perhaps the best asset is Molto Bene's large banquet facility that can accommodate events like weddings, fundraisers and funeral repasts.

"We can accommodate anyone for anything. We can feed 600 people at once with this space," he said.

Molto Bene's brick oven, thin-crust pies have been drawing in locals for the past few months and making a mark in the valley's pizza repertoire, Pickering said.

"You have to have good pizza or it will not go over well here," he said.

Though not on the menu, Pickering said they have a hot oil pizza, which is a traditional pie with sauce and mozzarella or "scamozza" that is drizzled with the oil that is used to saute the long, hot Italian peppers for the porketta.

He said he hopes to "put a dent" in the area's surrounding reputable pizza parlors.

"I grew up in the Valley," Pickering said. "I know what you can and cannot get away with here. They will stay with you if you're good."

Molto Bene is located at 557 Wakelee Ave. in Ansonia. For information, call 203-735-6417 or visit johnjsullivans.com